Ministry for Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, August 22nd 2013
Hermione is deep into her readings about the new code on magical creatures' rights violations, making sure that the cases she's currently overseeing are strong enough to stand before the Wizengamot. It's the end of the day, so she has let down her hair, only to pull it up again and stick her wand in it to hold it in a messy sort of bun at the back of her head.
She looks up from the files to the door as her secretary knocks.
"Come in, Helen. I thought I told you to go home already," she says, flipping another page in the case file and letting her eyes drift downwards.
"I was just leaving," the young witch hesitates, her expression obviously concerned, "but there's someone here to see you."
"Now? What happened? Go on home; I'll handle this," her voice is trapped in her throat at the sight of Narcissa Malfoy standing at her door, "on my own, and then I'll lock up the files." She manages to finish the sentence as the witch clad in perfectly tailored deep blue robes walks inside. Hermione feels compelled to stand in her presence, not even noticing her body rising from the chair before she is up, back straight, her hands trying to mitigate the wrinkling of her pencil skirt.
Mrs. Malfoy removes her robes and places them neatly on the back of the chair opposing her desk, and the dress she has on underneath is almost too white, though the warm golden light of her spacious office lends it a softer image.
Hermione quickly rearranges her hair, thinking that she must look ridiculous with her wand turned into a hairpin; especially when compared to the immaculate half-up hairdo that holds the golden blonde hair of the witch before her. Then, she walks around her desk and directs Narcissa to the more comfortable armchairs at the fireplace. She decides to take the lead, instead of waiting for the other witch to state her business here.
"Good evening, Mrs. Malfoy. I suppose that this concerns my meeting with Delphini. My word is final. I cannot remove the Unbreakable Vow," she speaks the words hurriedly but precisely, "nor do I wish to investigate ways of doing so." Perfect enunciation despite the lump in her throat, hoping to be done quickly and painlessly.
"Oh, this has nothing to do with that particular matter. You were very young then. Unbreakable Vows are fickle things, you should know. How you word them is of utmost importance," she keeps her lips from smiling and her features composed, but there's a smug glint in her grey eyes, "so no, we never told Delphini that her father was Lord Voldemort, but no, it didn't stop us from talking to her about him. You were much too precise with your words, while all we have to do is keep ours vague."
She is jarred by the boldness of the statement. Narcissa is simply communicating to her that there are workarounds to the vow she imposed on them, quite simply unbreakable but not unbendable.
Hermione sits at the edge of the armchair, elbows on her thighs, while Narcissa almost lounges in hers, albeit perfectly poised. Mrs. Malfoy holds far more authority in this room than she does, and that irks her. It is clear now that there's a lioness in the room, fighting for her cub, and it is not the Gryffindor. The irony of it does not escape Hermione, but neither does it escape Narcissa from what she can tell. No, it does not escape her, and Narcissa seems to have every intention of using the power she has gained over her in only a few minutes.
What escapes Hermione is the essence of all this. She holds figments of the truth but they escape her fingers like water, seeping through the fissures. There is one thought alive and kicking at the front of her mind, though, guiding her, trying to figure a way to stand her ground once more. This woman, this witch, this mother, lied to Lord Voldemort's face, well within his reach, for the sake of her son. She wonders which lie she has been told for the sake of Delphini. She worries for the true meaning of such a ruse, for the true intentions behind such action.
"Let's be very clear, Mrs. Granger," Narcissa starts once more, "I'm here to fill you in on a certain matter, because I deem it the best way to keep my niece safe. There is a prophecy about Delphini. I know nothing of it other than it refers to her as 'the Augurey'. I trust you dislike the sound of that as much as I do, if not more, considering the illogical nonsense that comes with it."
Hermione takes a sharp breathe in through her nostrils. So this is why Delphini talked of defeating her own dead father. Narcissa gives her no chance to interrupt, though.
"Delphini dislikes it tremendously, and she is afraid of it. I've lost count to the number of times I've told her that her fate is not set in stone, that a prophecy cannot determine her future. I do not want you to remove the Vow; I do not need you to. I'm here to demand a vow of your own. Swear to me that you'll do anything in your ability to help her, to keep her from the harm of injustice, because we both know that the world will show her precisely none of the fair treatment you advocate for and that she deserves, that she has earned. And I do so without demanding that your life hangs in the balance."
And Hermione knows now what she has thought on for years. She knows now that this woman would have killed Harry and her the day they met Delphini. Had things not gone her wat, she would have killed them both and run with her precious child; that much is perfectly obvious now. Narcissa Malfoy is not a pretty little flower, no dainty pure thing by the water. Oh no, her thorns are much more vicious than those her eldest sister bore, for they lay hidden, waiting, concealed by the bright soft petals she shows the world. The perfectly innocent looking flower carrying the most powerful of poisons within her.
Love. A Mother's love.
Love that she will wield like a weapon, wear like a shield, and use to set the world ablaze should anyone come for her girl. Her daughter, not of flesh, but of blood, but of heart.
They were merely lucky that day, she sees now. Merely lucky that Draco sought them out, because had he not and this woman would have thrown her entire existence in luxury and comfort to the wind, would have thrown it away without a second thought, if it meant keeping Delphini safe.
The lioness stands, taking her silence for agreement, and she looks down to where she still sits, at a loss for words. She has shown her claws, she has roared, she has bared her teeth, now she shall retreat to her lair and guard her cub in it. And Hermione wouldn't wish facing her wrath upon her worst enemy.
X
Tonks House, August 24th 2013
Andromeda brushes her hair, looking at the mirror in front of her, eyes locked in the reflection of the brush she holds. It's made of silver and her name is engraved on the handle. She knows Narcissa must still have hers. She wonders if the girl inherited the one that belonged to her mother.
As much as she meant to do it, she could never part with the brush. She never found one that could brush through her curls quite so smoothly, quite so comfortably. It is charmed, she knows. She remembers the day her mother gifted it to her. She had just turned five, and she was terribly jealous of Bellatrix, who had already received hers at her own fifth birthday.
It does not shine like it used too. It has long been left unpolished. There are spots and specks, and her hand is often left with the blueish green residue of old silver. She could care for it properly; she probably should. It's the last Black possession that she owns. The last trace of her childhood. But then it would be a pretty, shiny object, and she does not trust those. Then it would undeniably be an heirloom of the House of Black, and that she could never stand. She has no daughter to inherit it. Not anymore, her mind reminds her. She keeps it out of her practical nature, she tells herself every time she brushes her hair. Out of sentimentality, her mind always whispers back. She keeps it as a token of a future that escaped her when she chose Tonks over Black. A future that she escaped, and one she condemned herself to.
She is coming for dinner tonight, the girl that may have inherited Bellatrix's brush. The girl with the green eyes that will, eventually, take Teddy away from her. She keeps repeating the same sentence, again and again, turning it over in her mind.
You will not judge the girl for her blood. You will not judge the girl for her blood. You will not judge the girl for her blood. You will not judge the girl for her blood.
It does her little good. She has tried to, but she sees too much of them in her. She must know. She has decided to take charge of her fate, once and for all, but first she must know precisely how much of her parents' nature has found purchase in the girl. She must know the monster before she slays it.
Like a bird through a spider web, the girl will shatter the sanctuary she has built for herself, the place where she keeps Teddy safe, and the place where her sanity struggles the least. She will let her come inside, but she has no real intention of allowing her to leave unharmed.
Delphini, they say, and they think stars. But she remembers how much Bellatrix liked the name. Not just because it was a constellation, but because it resembled Delphyne, the she-dragon that guarded the oracle. Bellatrix wouldn't just care for pretty stars in the night sky. Not unless there was some hidden meaning to them, something more, something dangerous under the surface. A dragon in disguise sounds just like the sort of thing Bellatrix would appreciate. It's why Bella took so easily to the Lestrange brothers. It's why she liked Rodolphus. It's why she adored her master. For the very danger of being close to them, for the trill of approaching the beast in its lair, for the comfort of belonging to a pack of one's equals.
Andromeda runs the brush through her hair one last time before setting it down. Then she takes to her desk, finally deciding to sign her name at the bottom of the scroll laying there. She rolls it up quickly, as if it could hurt her if touched for too long. It couldn't, it wouldn't, but it will hurt someone.
It will hurt her.
She needs allies if she wants to keep Teddy safe. She can keep the girl at bay and Teddy busy during the summers, but she needs someone to help her inside Hogwarts. This letter, this plea for help, is her only hope. At first, she wanted to scream the truth at the world, but Teddy would surely stand between the world and the girl, and she would never let him sacrifice himself for the girl. Then she thought of Potter and that ended in nothing but ashes in her mouth, a vengeance robbed from her with nothing but the aftertaste of defeat.
They love her and they are weaker for it. They do not see the danger; they do not see the darkness hovering above them. They never saw the monster.
So this is her last chance, her last opportunity to obtain an ally. Andromeda ties the scroll to the foot of the owl, held up in the air, waiting. With a caress to the top of the owl's head, she whispers, as if the trees could hear her and destroy her plans.
"Take this to Minerva McGonagall."
X
They sit happily in conversation, Teddy and her, almost unaware of Andromeda's presence. Almost, because she is keenly focused on the girl and she can't help but notice the staring.
Andromeda had managed to keep her poise at first, when they exchanged formal greetings at the door, right before Teddy enveloped Delphini in a hug, laughing, giddy in his happiness. Teddy is a Tonks, not a Black, Andromeda raised him so, and he does not see beyond the dinner invitation, beyond his chance of gathering the people he loves around the same table. Teddy is a Tonks, not a Black, Andromeda raised him so; for it is easier to be happy as a Tonks. Blacks scheme and conspire, ever suspicious, Blacks see the intentions behind every gesture and every word, for their world is much darker and will swallow the careless whole. Tonks enjoy life in the bliss of ignorance, unaware of just how dark their surroundings truly are. Andromeda wanted her grandchild to be happy, as her daughter was, so she raised them as Tonks and may lose the both of them for it. She raised them as Tonks and kept the bitterness all to herself. Bitterness that she will unleash on this girl, while keeping Teddy oblivious to it. First, though, she will let him have his happiness, even if it will be short-lived.
The girl is a Black though, that much is clear, and so a fit contender. She needs only know how much of a Riddle she is, and once she has the measure of her, she'll strike. She'll slay the green eyed creature that haunts her nights, pulling Teddy away from her, leaving her stranded on that barren rock amidst the stormy sea.
"Have you heard the rumours about the Triwizard Tournament? There's been talk at the Ministry. They want to bring it back," Teddy asks Delphini, running his fingers through the hair Andromeda had just put to rights.
"What? Again?" The girl sounds honestly surprised, but then the Malfoys no longer dwell inside the Ministry, "They stopped it because students died all the time, then they brought it back and a student died with the added bonus of a Dark Lord returned. What else do they need to happen? A full blown war between all three schools?"
That surprises her. The natural way in which the girl speaks of her dead father, calling him the Dark Lord with ease is daring. She is trying to get her measure as well, assessing her for weaknesses, looking for what makes her shiver or jolt. A Black indeed, figuring out what makes people tick. Andromeda shows no reaction to it, listening to their conversation and to their well-humoured banter.
"You just hate it because you won't be of age when it starts!"
"If it starts… Let's just hope that the Goblet doesn't put some poor 'Puff up for sacrifice."
"Oh! Because lions, snakes and eagles would never die in the tournament, is that it?"
"No, you dolt! Because the damned thing has selected underage wizards before. I know I can make it, and I know that my friends can make it-"
"Only because you would all cheat your way through it!"
"Be quiet. We're cunning. The point is: I'd be worried for you, because you lot are all about helping each other, and you couldn't lie to get out of trouble if your life depended on it. So I would rather not have a Hufflepuff at all, than have to wonder what sort of suicidal plan you'll be involved in to get said 'Puff to the finish line in a single piece."
Andromeda is trying to isolate what's real from what's ruse, trying to understand just how much the girl actually cares for Teddy and how much of it is a display for her benefit. It's not easy, not at all, because she sounds so very sincere. But then so did her father when it suited him and his cause. So did her mother when she set her eyes on a prize.
They carry on while Andromeda moves back to the kitchen to finish up their dinner. She rearranged the furniture so that she can look over her shoulder and see the two of them. Mostly so that she can see her, seated comfortably on the sofa Nymphadora liked to sprawl on; all grace and manners where her daughter was often clumsy and too spontaneous to care about norms of conduct. The perfect young witch that her sister raised, occupying the place her own daughter should be in. She lets her anger smoulder, but not boil out of containment. She needs her wrath; she's harvesting it for later.
The girl, Delphini, she forces herself to say in her mind, seems careless and perfectly at ease, toying with her necklace, laughing along with Teddy, rejoicing when he tells her that he'll be a Prefect this coming year. And when Andromeda is trying the hardest to see her affection for an act, she feels it.
A familiar pushing against her mind, almost not there, as if squeezing in through a crack. A green-eyed monster slithering over her mind, looking for a way inside. A Riddle indeed, squirming into her mind to fully assess her intentions. Andromeda is not an Occlumens, she left home in time, and she never had to properly shield her mind. She has no barriers to put in place, but she knows how to keep certain thoughts at the front of her mind and force the Legilimens to be blunt about her invasion should she wish to see more. She used to do it to Tom Riddle. She never had locks to her doors, but she made sure the bells rung if they were ever opened.
All those rumours about Scorpius and Astoria and the answers are right there! And they are all blind. She is the perfect mixture of their darkness, of their looks, how can they not see?
She decides to play a game. She won't let the girl see her thoughts about her, but she can show her all sorts of things about her parents. Memories that she has of them, memories of reading the news about them, memories of listening to the wireless at night, when they listed the lost and the missing, and thinking that they had done it, that they had caused it. She will show the girl a selected display of what her parents were capable of, and learn more about her from the girl's reaction to it.
X
Delphini is carefully pushing on her aunt's mind, feeling for a fissure, trying to see her thoughts without really intruding her mind, while keeping the conversation with Teddy going. It's as if she's sliding her hand over a mirror of water without being allowed to disturb it, as if caressing a smooth granite slab with the single purpose of finding an imperfection. She can feel a headache forming, just behind her eyes, a stabbing to the rhythm of her pulse. She won't be able to keep it up for long, so she needs to make this work.
Aunt Narcissa warned her repeatedly about her sister, and Delphini can plainly understand why. Though she leaves talking to Teddy and her, she is listening carefully to every word that comes out of her mouth. She can see Andromeda in the kitchen, making herself look busy over preparing dinner, and yet keeping all of her attention focused on her voice.
Unlike her, Delphini cannot focus fully on the task at hand, and she knows that her probing of the older witch's mind is failing. Not only because she is not listening to her thoughts, but because Andromeda seems to be aware of it. They exchange a look, their eyes meeting for the briefest second, slate grey and emerald green, steel and jewel, and for the first time in her life, Delphini sees grey eyes and does not think love or family. She sees grey eyes just like her Mother's, just like her Aunt's, and all that she can think is hatred, and danger, and trap.
Andromeda Tonks makes for quite an opponent. She picks up on her Legilimency far sooner than anyone ever has. Not even Auror Potter was bothered by her skill, when she first looked at his mind, without looking into it. There is no equal push against her defences, so if Andromeda is a Legilimens, like her, she is holding her cards close to her chest. And Delphini does not like that one bit. She feels trapped here. If it comes to it, how is she supposed to defend herself from Teddy's Grandma? She can't just fling her magic at her and hope that Teddy understands. She feels trapped and her mind is playing tricks on her, incapable of settling down, unable to shake the image of Euphemia's sorrowful bird in that large cage off her mind. If she is the Augurey, this feels like her cage.
But she is not alone in this cage, there's something else here, something dangerous, someone determined to hurt her. And Andromeda does hurt her. Delphini cannot see into her mind at will, but the witch knows enough about Legilimency to protect herself not with barriers but with her own thoughts.
Not her thoughts. Her memories. Andromeda is finishing their dinner while she muses on about her parents. Delphini sees it all, too curious to look away. She wants to know about them, she wants to learn about them beyond what the wraiths showed her. She should know better, she does know better, but the memories of her parents lure her close and closer. She is mostly listening to Teddy now, barely managing to answer his questions, trusting her hums and nods to do the talking for her. Chuckling and shaking her head when he smiles that way just before he laughs, laughing with him without knowing why. Andromeda pushes thoughts to the front of her mind, and Delphini eagerly clings to them, consuming them, a thirst for knowledge that she cannot quench, an oasis of memories in the barren land of her own memories of her parents.
She should know better, she does know better, and yet she does not leave Andromeda's mind. What she finds there horrifies her. It's like a gruesome magical accident that she can't quite pry her eyes from.
The first memory of her parents is at a ball, some sort of Christmas party. Andromeda was young then, so were her Mother, and Aunt Narcissa, whom she recognizes in the poised figure of a young witch in a periwinkle dress, with her golden hair falling in perfect ringlets. Her attention is focused on the tall creature clad in black silk, with a cascade of black curls falling down her back, pulled away from the face by a silver hairpin. Her Mother. Young and beautiful, walking towards three wizards at the opposing side of the ballroom. Malfoy Manor's ballroom, her mind almost screams in delight. She recognizes two of the wizards from pictures at home: Draco's grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy, and the one they share, Cygnus Black. In the third one she recognizes her own semblance, little things here and there that awaken her suspicion, the charming green eyes. And when her Mother is left alone with him, her behaviour tells her everything that she needs to know. The reverence, the adoration in her eyes, she has seen it all before, that night in the Chamber. Her Mother, not much older than herself at the time, talking to her Father, when he was still a handsome man, unmarred by the Dark Arts.
Then the memories change. Gone is the happiness of the ball, replaced by a veritable storm of dark deeds. She hears bits of newscasts from the wireless, and she realizes that the terrible crimes being described bear the signature of her Father and those who followed him. She sees covers of the Prophet from twenty years before she was born telling of dreadful findings in missing wizard's homes, of houses gone altogether, burned to the ground, of Muggle villages being raided, of the Ministry being overwhelmed with the tidying and erasing of Muggle memories it all required. The memories change again and she sees two dead bodies, side by side, in the Great Hall. A woman with pink hair and a man with a face full of scars and hair that, though brown, looks familiar. Teddy's parents, she realizes. She sees then the first memory for what it was. A lure to better trap her, bait for her to take and swallow whole, unaware of the hook. The hooks are many and barbed, but she manages to let Andromeda's memories go. Teddy's voice saves her.
"Delphie, are you even listening to me?"
"Sorry, Teddy, I got distracted. I was thinking of the Tournament," a half-lie, a white lie that her cousin does not see through, "do you really think they'll bring it back?"
She makes sure to lead the conversation to steady ground, to something she can truly invest her mind into. She needs to get her bearings back. She knows plenty about the horrors of the wars her Father started, and lost. She knows plenty about the crimes that had her Mother convicted to Azkaban. But those memories, her aunt's memories, are different. They taste of loss, of longing, of a deep melancholy for a future that never was.
Teddy's upbeat mood reminds her of what she risks should tonight spin out of her control. She won't trade her family for her parents. She won't trade their safety for them, never. She won't trade her friendship with Teddy for them.
And she will not let Andromeda risk any of it. She is fine with the idea of being exposed as the daughter of Lord Voldemort, she can stand her own ground, but she is not fine, not at all, with the consequences such announcement would herald for the people she loves.
She loves Teddy, and if keeping him means fighting this witch into silence, her choice has long been made. She loves her family, and if their safety means fighting her own blood, her choice has long been made, ever since that night in the Chamber.
Slytherin through and through, she will fight for the people she loves, until the very end.
X
They are sitting at the table, trying to enjoy the stew in their plates. Andromeda stabs the meat on her plate with her fork; bringing it to her lips while she keeps her eyes on the girl.
Teddy has tried, with that unwavering hope and endless happiness of his, to pull her into the conversation, time and time again, but she always falls back into silence and contemplation.
She looks on as they excitedly debate the possibility of going to Durmstrang or Beaubaxtons should the Tournament come true and happen to be hosted by one of the other wizarding schools. If the Tournament is held abroad, she'll make sure to send Teddy away. It won't be so hard on him if they're forced to spend the year apart, and she won't have to worry about his safety while she deals with the aftermath.
For Andromeda knows now that this girl won't be easy to take down. Her ties to Teddy are strong chains that require breaking and smashing, that shall require utter destruction and not simple untangling and sending away. This monster will not be slayed without a fearsome fight, she shall not be scared into surrender.
The girl fell for her ruse at first; she had the monster's attention, completely, but it soon retreated back to the safety of her own mind, of the lair that she is sure is dark and dangerous. Andromeda had hoped to lure the girl and force a confrontation, but she is too smart for that. As much as she looks like Bella, she has the cool mind of Tom Riddle, not her mother's recklessness. And that makes this monster all the more treacherous.
So Andromeda conjures up a new plan during her meal, actually making an effort to engage in conversation now. Maybe she can provide the girl with a false feeling of safety, let her back into her mind. She retreated quickly enough, but she had expected some disruption of her behaviour, a crack in her façade, but obtained none. Not only is she a Riddle and Black, there's something distinctively Malfoy to her. Composure; a way to carry herself and to keep her emotions private. Her father had it, but it was different. Her mother had only a hint of it. Bella sided with the bad tempered side of the Blacks, all rash and fury and instability.
Teddy, true to his Tonks nature, is thrilled once she joins the exchange, unaware of the careful and precise assessment she is making of the girl and of the way the girl measures her up between sentences, as well. For Teddy is a Tonks and happier for it, but they are Blacks and wiser for it. They are dark creatures circling each other. They haven't bared their teeth yet, but the night's air is heavy with anticipation, tingling with their latent magic.
Andromeda pities him, she does, but he has plenty of friends and plenty of people that he treats as cousins anyway, he does not need this girl. He does need to be away from them for a little while, and Andromeda has just the thing.
They finish up the stew, talking about this and that, unimportant subjects that hide their true intentions, Delphini soothes Teddy, teasing him on the way, about his OWLs, while Andromeda makes sure to give him a stern look. He better not get carried away by the tournament and flunk his exams.
She is surprised when the girl, Delphini she has to force her mind to think, offers to help with the dishes. This creature has had house-elves waiting on her for her whole life, but she effortlessly picks up the dishes, physically, and carries them into the kitchen. She smiles inwardly, thinking that this is her chance, but Teddy is fast on his feet, carrying the pot away and telling her not to worry.
This, she was not expecting at all, and it gives her some pause. Still, she rises from her chair and follows them, waving her wand in the air, setting the dishes to wash. Her plan still stands though, and she decides to enact it.
"Oh, Teddy, I had this dessert almost ready, but I don't have what I need to finish it here," she says, her tone perfectly innocent, "will you fetch it for me?"
"What do you need, Grandma?" He is all eagerness to help, a grin on his face as he tosses his hair off of it, sort of combing it back with a careless brush of his fingers.
"Just a couple of eggs and some sugar, please."
He moves into the pantry, taking no more than two minutes to tell her that they are out of both. The girl's brows climb her forehead, and she throws her hair over her shoulder as she leans on the counter, crossing her arms on her chest, a gesture so singularly Bella's that Andromeda clutches the counter top to keep from shivering.
"I can get it from our neighbours," he says, already leaving the kitchen, halfway to the door.
"You have neighbours here?" The girl seems honestly astonished.
"There are a couple of Muggle families down the road. They're nice! I'll be back in a second."
X
Delphini feels the jolt of magic in the air as her cousin saunters out the door, to fetch cooking supplies from Muggles down the road, as weird as that sounds. Her mind is immediately snapped back from reverie. A spark of magic that ignites the flames of danger in her mind. She has had this irk climbing up and down her back all day long, even before she got here, making her shiver. An ominous sensation of something dark approaching.
This is it. Her own blood is coming for her, she knows it is.
She looks to Andromeda, just in time to see the tip of her wand peek from her aunt's sleeve. It's not coming into view though, but retreating. Andromeda's lips are still murmuring a spell.
She has Confounded Teddy, and she has no idea about what stray thought she has planted in his mind. He may be gone for hours, for all that she knows.
"Don't look so surprised," her aunt's voice puts breaks to her galloping mind, "I was raised a Black, and I was a Slytherin."
She did not see this coming at all. She had considered the possibility of a confrontation, she is not naïve, and she wouldn't expect anything less, but she didn't think Andromeda capable of using her magic on Teddy like this.
Delphini is fast to pull out her own wand, keeping it low but clearly visible by her side. The bone-white yew captures Andromeda's attention fully, and she uses the time it buys her.
"I cannot let you ruin my family."
Andromeda laughs, a mad cackle that she supposes mimics her Mother's famous laughter, tossing her head back and with it her curly brown hair, streaked through by strands of grey and white, gathered carefully in a loose braid. Her wand emerges from her sleeve once more, and the older witch palms it tightly, though keeping it pointed to the floor.
"Your mother said something like that to me, once, right before she refused to ever acknowledge me as her sister again." There's a dangerous glint to her eyes, and in that moment Andromeda Tonks is very much a Black, an instable, deranged member of the house with the purest blood of Wizarding Britain. A witch of the House of Black in all her might, powerful and unafraid, come what may, hell or high water.
Delphini holds herself tall, standing straight in defiance. She will not surrender, she will not go down without a fight. If her aunt means to harm her, maim her, kill her, she will have to do so looking into her eyes, her emerald green eyes, the colour of her Father in her Mother's shape.
Her mind runs again, preparing for what's to come. Her Father killed his uncle when he was sixteen. She will kill her aunt. Her Father avenged his mother and his wretched childhood in a Muggle orphanage; she will protect her family and assure that no evil goes their way.
"You are just like them, aren't you? Cold and vicious. Taking what you want when you want it. Thinking that everyone else is beneath you," Andromeda says, disdain dripping from her lips with her words, "mocking the world with your poise while you conjure ways to bring your father back… I won't let you do it, girl."
Andromeda raises her wand to Delphini's chest, and she mimics the gesture, watching her aunt's grey eyes grow wide, while her pupils swollen to a size so large she is almost sure she can see herself reflected in them. She understands now what moves this witch. She does not know her and she bears no desire to do so. All that she sees is Bellatrix Black and Tom Riddle, and Delphini does not need to look into her mind to realize it.
"I'll get rid of you, girl. You're a curse, a cursed pretty thing aren't you? But I'll keep Teddy safe from you. I'll keep the world safe from you. I'll keep them from coming back."
She is too blind to see her, too blind to see the parts of her that have nothing to do with her parents. All she sees is the danger of close she is to Teddy, even though there's none for as long as her identity remains a secret.
And at that Delphini sees Andromeda's goal. She will not be killed tonight, oh no. She will be exposed if her aunt has her way, she will be taken to somewhere far and dark and wet and cold, amidst the stormy seas of the North, and chained to a wall of rock there.
Andromeda wants payback for an entire life of loss after mourning, compensation in blood it seems, and Delphini provided her with the perfect chance for it.
She will stand her ground, but she has a choice to make. She decides to earn herself some more time with yet another reminiscence of her Father. She lets her eyes change at will, and she knows that they will frenzy between colours for a moment, and then settle on red. Ruby red, crimson as blood leaving a dying body. Taking it further, she forces her already pale skin to lose its healthy blush and grow paler, and paler, to that shade of white with bluish undertones that she saw in Rodolphus mind and that night in the Chamber.
It works, and Andromeda staggers backwards, lowering her wand just a little. She is side-tracked by the sight of her, and her mind is frazzled by the eerie fusion of her parents that she has accomplished. She shakes her head, tossing her hair back once more, letting the cascade of black curls capture Andromeda's attention. It does and she points her wand at the very centre of her aunt's forehead, thinking Legilimens.
She does more than get in, she barges inside, bursting through Andromeda's thoughts at breakneck speed. She must be sure of her intentions before her choice is made. She sees all that she expected and then some. Andromeda means to have her locked up in Azkaban. Andromeda means to destroy her family by dragging them all with her.
"You'll ruin everything. I can't let you do it," Delphini tells her, taking a step forward, "they will come after my family." She lowers her wand from Andromeda's forehead to her body, keeping her upright through the bout of nausea an attack to the mind like that is certain to produce.
"Serves them right, after years of going after the families of others," she manages to say, blinking and faltering a bit where she stands. There is such hatred, such bitterness in her.
She cannot be talked out of this crazed plan of hers. Teddy could come running through the door right now and even he wouldn't be able to stop her. Andromeda is too far gone into her fantasy, into the reality she has constructed for herself. Delphini saw her thoughts, saw the way she sees her as a dangerous monster, a creature that will steal away Teddy in the night. She believes those lies with all her heart, all her mind, all her sanity and everything that lies beyond it in the vastness of her mind.
Delphini has one last chance to stop this madness, one provided by Andromeda just now. She lets her skin and her eyes turn back to their true colours, and that ignites a vicious spark in the grey eyes that seem to pierce her, seeing right through her, to a time when Andromeda was young and still a Black and a family was taken from her. But her features change again, not just her eyes and her skin, but her face, and her hair as well.
Brown eyes, a slight tan to her skin, bubble gum pink hair. She stands in Andromeda's kitchen wearing the look of Nymphadora Tonks, and the very flame that she ignited is put out by a mighty blow, drowned in the profusion of tears falling from Andromeda's eyes.
Delphini is all too aware that this is their defining moment. However Andromeda reacts determines their course from now on. Destruction or dominance, one or the other, there will be no room for compromise.
Andromeda keeps her wand on her, but her arm shakes, and she slowly lets it drop to her side. Her eyes are wide open, but they do not see. They are a window to an immense sea, one with waves of grief and deeps of sorrow, vast and cold. She closes her eyes, shutting her soul away, and the look on her eyes is a steeled one, a rock wall that hates her. But she does not fight. Andromeda does not raise her wand. Merely drops to the floor on her knees, wand clattering at her side, curly dark hair tainted by age falling to hide her face.
The cogs start to turn at that sight. The odd feeling of dejá vu hammering at her brain, screaming at her mind to see, forcing her to understand. There's a missing puzzle piece somewhere in her mind. Something that will somehow make all of this right, or better, or something else than the horrible truth.
In her dreams, in that old and familiar dream where she is all anger and very little thought, in that dream where she dreams of fighting against herself, where the other version of her falters and gives up, in that dream, the other her has never felt quite right. The other her has felt foreign for months. The dream has been clouded by a weird mist, and so has the other version of her. The other her has changed to have hair like this, she realizes, tainted by grey and some white. The other her lets her shoulders drop like this, lets her wand clatter on the floor without wincing, the picture of defeat.
The other her has not been her for a while. Maybe never was to begin with.
In that dream, she never dreams long enough to know which curse she aims at the defeated witch. She always wakes up, trembling and panting. The brain knows not what lies beyond death and so cannot dream it.
And this does feel like Death's approach.
X
Andromeda looks up to the witch keeping her at wand point, and now she sees it. The thing that haunts her, that haunted Sirius as well. The curse that they shared all their lives.
The dark cursed blood of Black. She sees it plainly now. The girl too is cursed by it, has been for all of her life. The shadow of her Mother far too great for her to escape.
The look of her own daughter vanishes in front of her eyes. That happy creature she so dearly, painfully, misses gives way to the beautiful, haughty creature her sisters created. A happy Tonks giving way to a mighty creature of Black, now as before, once again and once more, condemned to repetition. They are trapped in the wheel of destiny, which only goes round and round, ever repeating itself, ever crushing her in its unforgiving path.
Looking into her eyes, she sees something else, too. Something that drives a shiver down her spine and raises every hair in her body. A glint in the green, one her mother had in her grey eyes. This girl was never meant to escape the shadow, this girl has grown to love it, cherish it, and find solace in it. This girl is just like Bellatrix after all, with a love for the Dark that runs deep in her blood. Of how deep it runs only Andromeda and a few others know. That glint comes as much from her father as it comes from her mother.
The girl isn't simply cursed, she sees now. She is a curse unto herself. Andromeda's curse. She is the malignant, hungry, black creature that comes for her at night in her dreams. The green-eyed monster that takes Teddy and leaves her behind, forgotten.
She has suffered enough, she has suffered too much. And so she surrenders. She can no longer fight to keep Teddy away from this alluring creature. She would rather not live to see her boy fall for her ruse.
How could he not fall before her? Who could escape such a creature? She is magnificent, a masterpiece of darkness, a predator in essence, even if she does not know it. She was born for the hunt, born for the kill, her magic screams of it within the walls of Andromeda's house.
The girl has fulfilled her father's designs for the perfect weapon it seems. She is the slithering monster that goes unnoticed amongst the innocent. The dark creature that tells of power with her every move, with her every breath. The jewel-eyed lure that pulls people into the cave. The perfect beast. The thing that swallows the unaware whole. The thing that makes wood floors crack and creak in the night, dismissed by those who sleep, those that shall never wake again but for that fleeting second in which her fangs sink in their flesh.
In that last moment, Andromeda allows the very small, shrunken and withered piece of family pride to bask in the sight before her. A goddess of wrath bringing doom and damnation upon those under her power. Inflicting her anger on those beneath her by virtue of their birth alone. Like all angered women of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
Toujours Pur, her mind thinks one last time.
That proud feeling flourishes in the light that pours from the girl's wand. Then disappears into the air between them, as Andromeda's mind tries to catch up with the present, as her eyes gain a new light, put there by the magic shooting out of the tip of a bone white wand. As the core of dragon heartstring sings to her the familiar song of her own wand, of her sisters' wands.
"Obliviate," comes the incantation, whispered softly to the air in the room, almost as if the girl is worried about startling her.
Andromeda's mind is given a second to be confused before she loses conscience.
X
Delphini has made her choice. Andromeda shall not die, not by her hand. She is not her Father and she does not wish him to return, through her or in flesh. Like a bird through a spider web, she disrupts the present, hopefully destroying the future she was born to create.
She erases the memory of tonight's events, of all that happened after Andromeda asked Teddy to fetch her sugar and eggs, carefully, precisely. Minds can be read, but they are fickle things once one meddles with its threads. Too little, and it's all worthless. Too much, and Teddy may not have a grandmother to return to. She replaces the memories with a pretty tale of Teddy getting things out from the pantry, and Andromeda finishing the dessert, and all three of them sitting down once more, sticking to the slightly awkward conversation. She adds a finishing touch: herself saying goodbye to Andromeda, to be walked to the door by Teddy.
Once she is done, she dives into Andromeda's mind at will. There are no thoughts being pushed forward, and she simply skips over the memories of her parents. They all have a hateful veneer, a vengeful veneer that seems to warp them, like old mirrors do. She looks for the moment Andromeda recognized her Father in her, back to the platform, a day so close and yet so far. She pinpoints exactly what it was that made Andromeda realize who her true sire was.
Her eyes. Her emerald green eyes, the same colour of Lord Voldemort's eyes, way back when the Dark Arts had not marred him yet, before he came back from the dead with eyes of crimson. Her emerald green eyes, which looked nothing like the deep dark pits of Rodolphus Lestrange's eyes.
She has jostled with her aunt's mind already, but this feels like something that must be done. This is her path. It is a dark and twisted thing, but if it keeps her family safe, then so be it. She has no ruination of her Mother to avenge, she has no wretched childhood to blame on Andromeda, and so she will not claim her life. Not tonight. Not ever, she decides. Dark and twisted as her path may be, there will not be a trail of dead bodies leading to her. Her choice is made.
Still, she carefully pulls bits and pieces of Andromeda's memories out of her skull. Without a vial to collect them, the silvery strands exist in the air for a moment, but disappear the very second her wand lets go of them, falling to the floor at first but never reaching the floorboards. Delphini has tears streaming down her face now. She does not regret this, none of it will keep her up at night, but picking through Andromeda's memories of her Father forces her to see them. It's a terrible, gruesome, horrible truth, but in the end she still yearns for him. She still wishes for a way to have him back without condemning her family.
She carries on, finishing her task, being meticulous, carefully selecting the precise bits that need erasing. She is a little clumsy at the beginning, but she eventually figures out a way to eliminate the colour of her Father's eyes from Andromeda's mind. They weren't together that often; it seems that her aunt took pride in defying him, but still tried to avoid him for the most part.
When she emerges from Andromeda's recollections, she has completely lost track of time. Her headache is tremendous, and she has to press her eyes to keep the pain from overwhelming her. She realizes that she cannot go back and try to wipe the memory of how dark Rodolphus' eyes are. They went to Hogwarts together, they knew each other well before that, there would be too many alterations to be made, and she is not sure Andromeda's mind could withstand it. What she can do though, is try and clear away Andromeda's suspicion of her. She goes back into the unconscious witch's mind, back to that day on the platform, and further back even, to the very first time Andromeda saw her. Her thoughts are a whirl, and she decides not to touch them. She leaves them all as they are, except for that single moment of realization when she connected the green dots. Hopefully, it will be enough. Maybe, just maybe, eliminating the link between her and her Father in Andromeda's mind will eliminate the entire chain of thoughts, put an end to the daunting future her aunt was willing to conjure.
Teddy comes back then. She can hear him whistle a merry tune, oblivious to all of this, shutting the front door and walking into the kitchen. Andromeda is still on the floor, completely lost to slumber, lying in an unnatural position. She will probably sleep until the sun is high up in the sky come tomorrow. His look is one of utter confusion at the sight before his eyes.
"Teddy, it's fine," she says, "I'm sorry but I have to do this. Confundo."
Teddy's eyes go a little vacant, and he nearly drops the things in his arms. There are eggs and sugar, but also carrots that look like they've just been pulled from the ground, and a jar of pickles, only Merlin knows why. Whatever Andromeda did to him, it clearly worked. She Banishes the things to the pantry, Confusing Teddy one more time to be on the safe side. She rearranges his memories of this night to match those of his grandmother, then Confuses him into going to the living room and lounging about for a while. She levitates Andromeda's sleeping shape all the way down the corridor and up the stairs, then down another corridor and into a bedroom. She leaves her lying on the bed, over the quilt, but sets about looking for a blanket to cover her with. As she leaves the bedroom, she walks past the vanity and sees a silver hairbrush just like hers, but the years have clung to it like sorrow clings to its owner. She leaves it be without sparing a look back, not wanting to dwell on it. She has one more thing to do.
She doesn't need to disturb Teddy's mind again. He believes Andromeda has said goodbye earlier and gone to bed, so he says goodbye to Delphini, hugging her as they only do in private, and walks her to the door, looking on as she walks away from the house where her own blood turned on her and tried to destroy her family.
She looks back to make sure that Teddy has closed the door, hoping against all hope that maybe, just maybe, this entirely chaotic evening has been put to rights, and that it will not come back to haunt her.
And maybe, just maybe, her actions tonight are enough to put an end to the formidable future her parents created together sixteen years ago. Maybe, just maybe, she can take her destiny in her hands and mould it into something else. The crystal orb that sang of her future is shattered already, maybe her future lies in crumbles now, as well.
Author's Notes: I actually meant for this chapter to be a little longer, but this felt like a good place to stop. It carries easily into the next one and doesn't leave you all hanging at the proverbial cliff. Thank you so very much for reading and reviewing. I'll get you guys another chapter before Christmas ;) Oh, and there will be at least one more side piece (I managed to finagle one into the forum tasks).
To certifiedsaladexpert: To be completely blunt, you made me cry happy tears. Thank you so very much for your words, I cannot even begin to explain how much they mean to me. I'd reply to you at length, but I can't pm you.
To Guest: Thank you so much!
Word count (for the forum) – 8 912
EDIT 25/12/2018: I wrote that side piece I promised you guys with Teddy. It's "Of Things Unsaid". Sorry I couldn't get you another chapter as a Christmas gift, but my mother is recovering from surgery, which meant that Christmas logistics befell solely the girl of the family, and it has been a freaking frenzy.